Although standard graphics tablets are indispensable for professional illustration, image editing, and other graphics work, ultraprecision has been difficult to achieve because of the high degree of hand-eye coordination required to draw on a tablet while watching your progress on a monitor.

The Wacom PL500 LCD Pen Tablet System ($4,000 street) eliminates this awkwardness by permitting drawing or tracing directly onto an image displayed on a 9- by 12-inch color LCD panel. Once you've worked with the PL500, you'll never want to go back to using an ordinary graphics tablet. The PL500, however, is very pricey, and setting up the required dual graphics card should only be done by an experienced technician.

The PL500 is a flat LCD monitor designed to lie on its back. A handsome, rock-stable unit, it has a 15-inch active matrix color TFT screen. Forty-seven easel adjustments let you slant the tablet to the most comfortable drawing position. On the tablet's back is a difficult-to-open flap covering the power, USB, and graphics cable plugs; the power switch and status lights are in the upper-right corner. The only control on the tablet is a brightness knob. Depending on your graphics board, you may be able to adjust the contrast andto a limited degreecolor.

The 24-bit color LCD panel features 256 levels of pressure sensitivity and 1,016-lpi resolution. The cordless, batteryless two-button stylus has a pressure-sensitive electronic eraser. Although Wacom furnishes the same driver used by its Intuos tablets, the PL500 operates only with the provided pen and not with Intuos products such as a puck or airbrush. The tablet, however, peacefully coexists with any mouse. Though Wacom provides a holder, there's no indent or well on the tablet to store the pen.

You can set up the PL500 as an independent, dual, or mirrored monitor. Once we configured the Matrox Millennium G400 (one of a few recommended dual-monitor AGP graphics cards), we had no difficulty attaching and installing the USB tablet. Calibrating the stylus to display positioning is also simple, and drawing is incredibly natural and easy. Your creation displays instantly under the pen. The only caveat: The PL 500's colors are unrealistic, which is why we frequently glanced up at our calibrated monitor.

The PL500 system is a fabulous professional tool that brings high-end workstation functionality to the PC.

About the Author

Sally Wiener Grotta is a contributing editor of PC Magazine, a professional photographer, a digital artist, and an early pioneer in computer graphics. She has coauthored several books with Daniel Grotta, including The Illustrated Digital Imaging Dictionary (McGraw-Hill). Her expertise extends to digital cameras, scanners, printers, imaging and illu... See Full Bio

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